Sports news from Los Angeles and beyond

Tiger Woods is greater than Roger Federer

Both are undeniably great players. But who is greater: Tiger Woods or Roger Federer?

According to my sabermetrics tally, it's Woods.

Why? Let's compare the gap between Woods and Federer and the second-best player in their respective sports.

Woods has won 14 Grand Slam tournaments, and is within reach of Jack Nicklaus' all-time record of 18. Federer has 15 Grand Slam singles titles, the best in tennis history.

But let's check out the record of their rivals. In golf, there's a logjam among Woods' contemporaries: Phil Mickelson, Ernie Els, Vijay Singh and Padraig Harrington all have won three majors. So that's a gap of 11 majors between Woods and any of his rivals.

Meanwhile, in tennis, Rafael Nadal is the obvious second-best in the Federer era, and Nadal has won six Grand Slam singles titles -- a gap of nine titles behind Federer.

For me, that makes it obvious. Federer is great, but Woods is greater.